Page 112 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
‘You look well,’ his father said, drawing up a chair for his mother.
‘Everywhere other than my leg feels well.’
His father pulled a chair closer for himself too. ‘Jenny and Helen have been asking us numerous questions about you, and about why we go out all the time when we have only just returned. They are old enough to realise the whole thing is odd. We want to tell them.’
‘No.’
‘Think of this from their perspective. It is distressing them.’
‘Then do not visit me. I am better, and the splints will be off soon. I will stay at John’s for Christmas and tell everyone I fell off my horse.’
His father sighed. ‘Very well. I understand you do not wish Caroline to hear of this, so that is what we shall do.’
59
Drew’s grooms carried down the trunk containing her clothes. She had run away from Albert in the clothes she wore, with one handkerchief full of the Jewellery he had gifted to her. Everything she owned in the trunk was a gift from Drew. But at least now, the handkerchief of jewels had become a trust fund from which she could draw income. She would feel more independent at least.
Her heart beat firmly, the rhythm knocking against her ribs as she turned to say goodbye to Mary.
She was proud of herself. Rob would be proud of her too. Though, Rob might never know as he did not write to Mary.
Mary held Iris facing outwards; Iris liked watching everything these days.
Caro leaned to hug them both. Iris grasped the ribbon of Caro’s bonnet and pulled it loose, she would have pulled off Caro’s bonnet but Caro caught it. She kissed Iris’s cheek and then kissed Mary’s. ‘Thank you. You have been very kind to me, a very dear sister.’
‘You are a wonderful sister to me too. Please visit us whenever you like, you need not send word.’
Caro nodded. Leaving the children was hard, and yet she had her own to nourish.
It is his child too– that thought invaded her mind more often as the weeks crept on.
She looked at Drew. George was balanced on his forearm, with an arm wrapped about his papa’s neck. His head pressed against Drew’s shoulder. He was grumpy.
‘He does not wish to say goodbye to his Auntie Caro, because he does not wish his Auntie Caro to go,’ Drew said.
Caro kissed her brother’s cheek. ‘I love you and I will be forever grateful for everything you do for me.’
‘There will always be a place for you here.’ He had said those words a dozen times.
‘Thank you.’ Her fingers stroked George’s curly hair. He looked at her through the edge of his eyes. ‘You, little man, must be well behaved for your mama and papa, and I will come and visit you.’ George was silent.
Caro re-tied the bow in her bonnet’s ribbons. The trunk had been loaded onto her trap. She was driving herself to Maidstone and stabling her horse and trap there, in the inn. In the last moments, as she stepped up on to the small carriage, tears gathered in her throat.
‘I am going to miss you,’ Mary said, stepping forward, as Caro settled the blanket over her knees.
‘We all are,’ Drew added.
‘I will visit,’ she promised, wiping away a tear that had escaped.
He nodded.
The groom handed her the leather straps. ‘Goodbye,’ she called as she flicked them and set the pony into a trot.
60
The thought of walking had been far easier than the act, and for the first two days of being without splints Rob favoured using the crutches, but he was determined to need no more than a stick by the time he went to John’s, which would be Christmas Eve, three days hence. So, he forced himself to learn to balance on two sticks and then one, walking every half an hour, even though his thigh hurt and his leg swelled. He practised until by the day he left he believed he had established a style that made it look a lot easier to walk than it felt.
It took a long time to descend the stairs as the leg was stiff, and weak. He could only bend his right leg, so he stepped onto the left using the stick on that side.
